[Phoenix]

The Office is coming back September 25 at 8 pm. The first episode is titled "Weight Loss." I'm so pumped, its been gone for so long and the Office is awesome.

[Chefelf]

I'm with you, but I'm cringing as I wait for someone to make the obligatory post about how the British version is so much better.

[civilian_number_two]

No, no, no. The two are different, sure, but both exceptionally good.

Major Differences:

1) The UK version makes use of its premise, that the show is the product of a documentary. As such, characters cannot keep secrets from one another. When Tim makes his feelings known to Dawn, everone in the office knows immediately and they comment on it. When David Brent loses his job as manager, he parlays his minor tv celebrity into a series of appearances at shady clubs, doing "reality celeb" spots on dating shows, etc. Another key point of the format is that there are exactly two camera teams, no more, so there is not unlimited coverage of every moment like you get on the American version. This sells the "reality" aspect of the show much better. Tim also significantly removes his wire mic so we can't hear what he says to Dawn. That is a strong dramatic moment absent from the American version, which essentially only uses the "reality" premise to allow the characters to speak directly to the camera in the Interview room and frequently to flash the camera with sarcastic eyes. One key plot element in the Christmas special is that the BBC offers Dawn the airfare and accommodations to fly back from Florida to revisit Wernham Hogg. So again the Heisenberg principle is at play: first Tim's feelings for Dawn are made public by the BBC; later David uses his BBC status to eke out a meagre celebrity career; finally the BBC itself is responsible for terminating Dawn's engagement and getting her together with Tim. This is all fantastically clever. In the American version, we have to assume that the documentary being filmed is screened on Mars, because noone at Dunder-Mifflin has ever seen it. If they had, then Dwight's relationship with Angela would never have reamined a secret, to mention only one of many office secrets.

2) The UK Office has basically only four characters: Tim, Dawn, David, and Gareth. Everyone else is a glorified extra. The US Office on the other hand is the strongest comedy ensemble on tv today. It may be my favourite comedy ensemble of all time, and I include the cast of TAXI. As much as I feel the first difference I cited makes the UK version more clever, I feel this distinction makes the US version more durable. And yes, funnier.

So there. I have compared the two without favoring either. Certainly I have not said that the original UK show is superior.

[Chefelf]

Civ,

Thank you for being brave enough to point out that they are both good but different. The knee jerk response is always, "The American version is crap! Ricky Gervais RULES!"

Much like the classic, "I hate X and love Y!" why can't you just like both?

[Deucaon]

Much like the classic, "I hate X and love Y!" why can't you just like both?

For the same reason you cant love both the unaltered version and the new digitally remastered version of the original trilogy (except image that everyone in the remastered version had [insert different cultural group] accents and told jokes which only people who knew extensively about [insert different cultural group] would understand.)

[civilian_number_two]

The US Office/UK Office isn't the same as Original version of STAR WARS trilogy/Digitally altered trilogy. One is an example of a remake, while the other is a reinvention. And it's possible to like both versions of the STAR WARS trilogy. There are lots of folks who like both.

I don't think, either, that the original Office was loaded with jokes that only Brits would get. They're just different jokes. And yeah, self-referential stuff that made the original one more clever, while the remake is funnier has a better ensemble.

[Dr Lecter]

I hate both X and Y. How is that for being non-bias.

This post has been edited by Dr Lecter: 02 September 2008 - 07:04 PM

[Itaritz]

Damn you Lecter, I was going to say that, until I scrolled down and saw you had already said it. I had clicked the quote button and everything.

I seem to recall the guy who plays Dwight, whose name I am too lazy too look up, saying in and interview that the show's comedic goal was to make people so uncomfortable that they wanted to change the channel, but to be funny enough that they weren't quite able to. That balance is a bit off for me.

[Slade]

Yeah, I definitely find the American version painfully awkward, but about as funny as I assume a colonoscopy to be. I've never seen the British version.

[civilian_number_two]

It's the funniest thing on tv.

[Slade]

Yeah, I read the google ad at the bottom of the page, too!

[Icey]

The Office is a slice of genius Be it the UK or US version, I tried watching the German version, but it didn't quite work with subtitles.

[Dr Lecter]

I seem to recall the guy who plays Dwight, whose name I am too lazy too look up, saying in and interview that the show's comedic goal was to make people so uncomfortable that they wanted to change the channel, but to be funny enough that they weren't quite able to. That balance is a bit off for me.

It has to be said, they achieved that first goal beyond all imagination. The second one however has me scratching my head, surely that would require it to contain comedy?

[Dr Lecter]

I withdraw my previous comment, I just saw a few minutes of the American Office, and I actually thought it was quite good. I was just assuming it was going to be as crap as the British one is.

[Mirithorn]

I also like the American office better- they both have that balance between painful and funny, but the American version is significantly less awkward. I've heard the American Office described as imperfect people trying to make their lives work, something which seems to me absent from the British version. Ricky Gervais is great, but also in this role the most obnoxious actor on television, possibly the most obnoxious actor who has ever been on television. Too often the awkward drowns out the funny. David just racists at people because he thinks he's being really funny. Michael starts out trying to prove that he's not racist in a similar episode by similarly awkward tactics, but the situation instead of remaining painful, just gets more and more awkward until it's into the realm of the bizarre, at which point it becomes hilarious.

The American Office is a lot more lighthearted. What can I say? I prefer accidentally-on-purpose kidnappings of pizza delivery boys and "That's what she said"s during court proceedings to the gone-through-horror-and-out-the-other-side humor that the British Office relies upon.

But I do miss Gareth.